4 October: The TUC has written to the government criticising the complicated and confusing way in which changes to child benefit have been explained to millions of families.
By the end of Saturday, 5th October any parent receiving child benefit and who earns - or whose partner earns - more than £50,000 must either register to be self-assessed for tax or opt out of receiving child benefit. Any mums or dads affected by the change, but who fail to register, may face a financial penalty.
The TUC is concerned that letters sent out by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are not only being sent out arbitrarily to people unaffected by the change but have also failed to explain clearly to parents exactly what they should be doing before the end of tomorrow.
The TUC believes that that the changes affecting families where one or more parent earns more than £60,000 - the point at which child benefit is no longer payable - are especially difficult to understand. Families in this position can either choose to register for tax self-assessment or can decide to stop receiving child benefit altogether.
It's at this point that the TUC believes things start to get especially confusing. Parents are being told they can no longer receive a payment, but that they should continue to make claims for any subsequent children. This is because any parent entitled to child benefit but who is not in work can get national insurance credits (until their child is 12) which count towards their state pension entitlement but the TUC believes the link between the two isn't made sufficiently clear in the HMRC advice.
Without these vital national insurance credits, stay-at-home parents - the overwhelming majority of whom are mums - risk reaching retirement without enough contributions to receive a full state pension.
The TUC is opposed to cutting child benefit for higher income parents because it believes that as a universal benefit - alongside the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes - it should be available to everyone.
Commenting on tomorrow's deadline, TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'The changes to child benefit are a mess. Quite apart from the fact that the decision to withdraw the benefit is unfairly hitting single parents, many families where one parent earns more than £50,000 are - even at this late stage - still unaware that unless they've visited the HMRC website by the end of tomorrow they may be fined.
'To make matters worse, HMRC isn't only sending letters to those parents affected by the change. We've been hearing about parents earning below the £50,000 threshold who have been written to, as have mums and dads whose children are too old to qualify. Even childless couples have been receiving letters.
'There's also a risk that some vulnerable parents earning way below £50,000, and who get the HMRC letter by mistake, could think they are about to lose their child benefit, and rather than pay a fine, opt out of child benefit - with potentially disastrous consequences.
'Although registering for self-assessment only takes a matter of minutes, trying to work out whether to keep on receiving child benefit or stop the payments altogether is not easy. The complex changes and the confusing way in which affected parents have been informed makes it likely that many families where the mum or dad earns more than £50,000 may miss tomorrow's registration deadline.
'Even at this late stage, it is not too late for the government to admit it was wrong to penalise parents - especially those bringing up children on their own without financial support from their ex-partners - by denying them their child benefit.
'Ministers should show they are committed to maintaining all universal benefits by scrapping the unfair decision to take child benefit away from hundreds of thousands of families.'
Families where one or more parent is earning more than £50,000 should visit the HMRC website for more information http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefitcharge/
